1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to thin film magnetic read/write heads. In particular, the invention relates to a method for electrically grounding the pole pieces or core material used in thin film magnetic heads.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As computer systems have multiplied and the demand for high density storage media has increased, magnetic recording heads have developed to meet the demand for increased storage density. One method of increasing magnetic recording densities is through the use of magnetic read/write heads having a highly intense and highly concentrated fringe field. The fringe field is the magnetic field that extends or "fringes" beyond the gap formed between the two poles of the magnetic head. This improved fringe field has been achieved by decreasing the size of magnetic read/write heads, particularly the gap between the two magnetic poles of the read/write head.
The dimensions of magnetic heads have steadily shrunk, employing new technologies to achieve increasingly smaller sizes. One method of fabricating extremely small magnetic recording heads is through the use of thin film technology. Using this method of manufacture, the magnetic recording head is fabricated in much the same manner as semiconductor integrated circuits are manufactured. Through a series of steps involving masking and selectively depositing materials upon a wafer, microscopic thin film magnetic read/write heads may be manufactured.
Such small thin film magnetic heads, however, suffer from a number of problems. The heads have a high degree of sensitivity to noise signals. Furthermore, stray capacitance due to the separation between the thin film magnetic head and surrounding materials tends to limit the performance of magnetic storage systems using thin film heads. Particularly during the read operation, the performance of a thin film magnetic head could be improved by eliminating stray capacitance and lowering the head's sensitivity to noise signals from the surrounding environment.